As will be appreciated herein below, except as otherwise indicated, alloy designations and temper designations refer to the Aluminum Association designations in Aluminum Standards and Data and the Registration Records, as published by the Aluminum Association in 2007.
For any description of alloy compositions or preferred alloy compositions, all references to percentages are by weight percent unless otherwise indicated.
There are several high-strength Al—Mg alloys known in the art. For example U.S. Pat. No. 6,315,948-B1 (issued Nov. 13, 2001) discloses an aluminium alloy consisting essentially of, in wt. %, 5-6% Mg, 0.05-0.15% Zr, 0.7-1.0% Mn, 0.01-0.2% Ti, 0.05-0.5% of at least one element selected from the group consisting of Sc and the lanthanide series, wherein at least Sc and 0.005 to 0.5% cerium are present, the balance being aluminium, and unavoidable contaminants not exceeding 0.2% Si. The alloy is reported in particular to be suited for use as body panels of automotive vehicles.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,632 (issued Apr. 29, 1997) discloses an aluminium alloy product for use as a damage tolerant product for aerospace applications, the aluminium alloy is substantially zinc-free and lithium-free, and includes 3-7% Mg, 0.05-0.2% Zr, 0.2-1.2% Mn, up to 0.15% Si, and 0.05-0.5% of a dispersoid-forming element selected from the group consisting of: scandium, erbium, yttrium, gadolinium, holmium and hafnium, the balance being aluminium and incidental elements and impurities.
Although, Al—Mg based alloys are thus somewhat suitable for aerospace applications, a need still remains for aluminium alloys that are even stronger than presently available alloys while combining this with a very good corrosion resistance.